/sup 13/C record of benthic foraminifera in the last interglacial ocean: implications for the carbon cycle and the global deep water circulation

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1984 · Quat. Res. (N.Y.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(84)90099-1· OSTI ID:5811022

Duplessy, J C; Shackleton, N J; Matthews, R K; Prell, W; Ruddiman, W F; Caralp, M; Hendy, C H

The /sup 13/C//sup 12/C ratios of Upper Holocene benthic foraminiferal tests (genera Cibicides and Uvigerina) of deep sea cores from the various world ocean basins have been compared with those of the modern total carbon dioxide (TCO/sub 2/) measured during the GEOSECS program. The delta/sup 13/C difference between benthic foraminifera and TCO/sub 2/ is 0.07 +- 0.04% for Cibicides and -0.83 +- 0.07% for Uvigerina at the 95% confidence level. delta/sup 13/C analyses of the benthic foraminifera that lived during the last interglaciation (isotopic substage 5e, about 120,000 yr ago) show that the bulk of the TCO/sub 2/ in the world ocean had a delta/sup 13/C value 0.15 +- 0.12% lower than the modern one at the 95% confidence level, reflecting a depletion, compared to the present value, of the global organic carbon reservoir. Regional differences in delta/sup 13/C between the various oceanic basins are explained by a pattern of deep water circulation different from the modern one: the Antarctic Bottom Water production was higher than today during the last interglaciation, but the eastward transport in the Circumpolar Deep Water was lower.

• Research Organization: Centre des Faibles Radiactivites, Gif sur Yvette, France; Godwin Lab., Cambridge, England; Brown Univ., Providence, RI; Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, NY; Univ. de Bordeaux, France
• OSTI ID: 5811022
• Journal Information: Quat. Res. (N.Y.); (United States), Vol. 21
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CARBON 13
ISOTOPE RATIO
CARBON DIOXIDE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
QUATERNARY PERIOD
OCEANIC CIRCULATION
BENTHOS
CARBON 12
CARBON CYCLE
FORAMINIFERA
GLOBAL ASPECTS
SEAS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON ISOTOPES
CARBON OXIDES
CENOZOIC ERA
CHALCOGENIDES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
GEOLOGIC AGES
INVERTEBRATES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MICROORGANISMS
NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROTOZOA
SARCODINA
STABLE ISOTOPES
SURFACE WATERS
520100* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (-1989)